Li Qiang, Meng Yuan, Li Qiuli, Zhao Heng, Li Shiyu
Tianjin University of Technology, Tianjin, China.
Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Victoria, Australia.
Sci Rep. 2025 Jul 27;15(1):27320. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-13308-5.
Vocal intonation, a fundamental element of speech, is pivotal for comprehending and communicating effectively. Nevertheless, children suffering from hearing impairment encounter difficulties in recognizing vocal intonation patterns, primarily stemming from their auditory deficits. In 2020, a study conducted at Tianjin Medical University General Hospital in Tianjin, China, recruited five deaf children and two children with normal hearing (male; mean age = 10.21 ± 0.4 years) to compare the differences between deaf and normal children in four Chinese tone recognition tasks. The results revealed that (1) Due to hearing loss, some of the auditory cortices responsible for processing vocal intonation in deaf children do not function optimally, (2) When decoding vocal intonation information, deaf children might utilize alternative neural pathways or networks, (3) Deaf children exhibit hemispheric specialization in their processing of vocal intonation cues.
语调是言语的一个基本要素，对于有效理解和交流至关重要。然而，听力受损的儿童在识别语调模式方面存在困难，主要源于他们的听觉缺陷。2020年，在中国天津的天津医科大学总医院进行的一项研究招募了五名失聪儿童和两名听力正常的儿童（男性；平均年龄 = 10.21 ± 0.4岁），以比较失聪儿童和正常儿童在四项汉语声调识别任务中的差异。结果显示：（1）由于听力损失，失聪儿童中一些负责处理语调的听觉皮层无法最佳发挥功能；（2）在解码语调信息时，失聪儿童可能会利用其他神经通路或网络；（3）失聪儿童在处理语调线索时表现出半球专业化。
